Chapter 15
‡
“Good transition!” Lucky shouted. “Roll out!”
A guttural grunt tore from Eli as he tucked his chin into his chest and clenched his stomach. His muscles burned as he jerked to the left in an attempt to escape the triangle choke that Gabe had him pinned in.
His attempts proved futile, and Lucky blew the whistle. Gabe released Eli, and both men rolled onto their backs, each gasping for air. Their labored breaths were even audible over the loud rock music as they lay on the mat.
“You guys are beasts!” Lucky exclaimed with pride in his voice. “Beasts!”
Eli shut his eyes, and an image of Kenzie appeared. She was lying beneath him, her golden eyes looking up at him as he made love to her. It had been happening all morning. Every single time he closed his eyelids he would see a different frame from the night before. His brain had taken snapshots that were being projected on the back of his eyelids. And he wasn’t complaining. If pictures of Kenzie were all he saw for the rest of his life when he closed his eyes, he’d be a happy man.
Happy.
That was such a subjective term. He’d thought he’d grown to a place of happiness before Kenzie had shown back up in his life. It had taken him years, over a decade, to get there but he’d honestly believed that he’d achieved it. Now he knew that, at best, he’d been merely content. He’d been going through the motions of his life, trying to make the best of things, to do his best, to be the best he could, but he hadn’t had real joy.
Being with Kenzie again had reminded him what pure bliss was. Spending time with her revealed to him why he’d never been able to get her out of his system. She was a part of him, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt now that any life without her in it would just be surviving, not living.
He felt the mat shift beneath him and opened his eyes to see Gabe standing up and offering him a hand. He took it, and when both men were on their feet, they did the one arm man-hug.
“Good work.” Gabe slapped his back.
“Thanks, man.”
Eli had to admit that it felt good that he’d been able to hold his own against the elite fighter even if it was just in a sparring match. He was under no illusion that Gabe would wipe the floor with him if this were a real match. Gabe would beat him on a good day, and today was not a good day for Eli. He’d only had a couple of hours of sleep last night and he was distracted by the fact that Kenzie wasn’t there.
When he woke up to an empty bed this morning he’d figured that Kenzie was in the kitchen or bathroom. But after a quick sweep of the house, he realized that she wasn’t there. He’d gone out on the porch to find her car was gone. The only reason he hadn’t panicked was that the suitcase that he’d brought from the cottage was still in his room.
He’d expected to see her once he got to the gym but she wasn’t there either. Theo had been filming all morning, but Kenzie was nowhere to be seen.
His legs and arms burned as he climbed out of the octagon and headed toward the showers. When he got there, he rinsed off and tried his best to keep his eyes open. Any pictures of Kenzie naked were likely to inspire a physical reaction that wasn’t conducive to a locker room environment. Sporting wood in a room of naked men was a party foul that Eli wanted to avoid at all costs.
After successfully managing to keep all X-rated slide shows from playing, he dried off and got dressed. He was just putting on his deodorant when Marco came around the corner with a towel hung around his waist.
“So, how’s your neighbor?” his friend asked, wagging his brows at him.
Eli instantly felt sixteen again. He was back in high school, and one of his friends was asking about Kenzie.
“Hey what’s up with your neighbor?”
“What’s the deal with you and Sutton?”
“If you guys are just friends why are you always with her? Why can’t you come hang with us?”
That was only if they suspected something. When they didn’t suspect, the questions and comments had a different angle.
“Hey dude, put in a good word for me with Mackenzie.”
“Mackenzie’s hot, bro, I’m gonna try and hit that. What is she into? I need insider info.”
“If Mackenzie was my friend it would be with benefits.”
Eli ignored those voices from his past, and he ignored Marco too. He put the antiperspirant back in his locker and slammed it shut.
“Hey, man.” Marco took a step back. “I wasn’t trying to piss you off. I was just messing around.”
Eli ran his hands through his hair. Marco hadn’t done anything wrong. “It’s all good. I’m just tired.”
Marco looked at him with pity as he shook his head back and forth. “Damn. Another one bites the dust.”
“What?”
“I know that look.” His friend pointed at him. “You’re done. Off the market. I’m going to need to find a new wingman.”
“I was never your wingman.”
“Yes, you were.” Marco’s face twisted up as if Eli was an idiot for thinking otherwise. “Why the hell did you think I always called you to get a beer the night before our shifts?”
“Camaraderie?”
“No, man.” Marco flinched. “It’s because I want to get laid before I’m forced to be celibate for forty-eight hours.”
That might’ve been true for Marco but not Eli. “I haven’t taken anyone home from the bar in over two years.”
“I know.” His friend nodded emphatically. “That’s what made you the perfect wingman. More for me. Girls travel in packs of at least two. You hung back, talked to whichever one I wasn’t vibing with. You’d play pool and darts with them. You’d keep the friend busy while I laid the groundwork. Then you’d go home. Alone. It was perfect.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, man.” Eli slowly shook his head as he patted his friend’s shoulder on the way out of the locker room. “Looks like you’re gonna have to learn to fish without a net.”
Marco laughed as he called out after him, “Good thing I have a big pole.”
Eli grinned as he turned the corner, but in the back of his mind he thought chances were, he was still going to be Marco’s unwitting wingman. Last night was incredible, but nothing had been resolved. Things between Kenzie and Eli were just as up in the air as they’d been before she’d shown up on his porch dripping wet.
Which reminded him, he had a call to make.
He ducked into Deanna and Lucky’s office and grabbed his phone and dialed Jay. When he didn’t answer, he left another message. This one stated in no uncertain terms that he was done being his onsite handyman and property manager. He also told him that he needed to get someone out to the property today and he needed to refund Mackenzie all of the money for her stay.
When he hung up, he lifted his head and saw that Deanna was in the doorway.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
He nodded and started to leave.
She remained in the doorway. “Who owes Kenzie money?”
He stopped. “You were listening to my conversation?”
“You were having it in my office.”
As much as he didn’t feel like getting into this with his cousin, he knew he was better off telling her at least part of what happened. In this town, it wouldn’t take long for the news to spread.
“Last night a pipe burst in the cottage that Kenzie was staying in.”
Deanna’s face lit up. “It did?”
“I had no idea plumbing issues made you so happy.” he said dryly.
She ignored his sarcasm, stepped forward and lowered her voice. “Where did she stay?”
“With me.”
She clasped her hands together triumphantly. “Well, that worked out even better than I’d planned.”
“Better than you planned?”
“Yep. My plan had just been to have her stay in one of the cottages, but thanks to Jay being such a cheapskate and never fixing anything, she’s staying at your house!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, after I saw the Fourth of July fireworks that were shooting off you two when you first saw each other, I decided that I should help your reunion along a little since you’re both as stubborn as mules when you want to be.”
He kept staring at her, still not following.
“Wow!” Deanna’s lips had moved with extra exaggeration in an O shape before she let out a sigh. “For a smart guy, you’re a little slow on the uptake.”
“Deanna.” His tone relayed that his patience was very close to running out.
“I asked Shelby to say there was only one room available at the B&B and then I called Crazy Jay to ask if there were any rooms available. Surprise!” She smiled.
He wasn’t amused. “What if there hadn’t been a cottage available?”
“Then she would’ve shown up on your porch with nowhere to stay. You, being the gentleman that you are, would’ve offered her a place. It would have still worked, but this was better. It’s better to let things happen naturally.”
As if things weren’t complicated enough with Kenzie, as if he didn’t have enough secrets he’d kept from her.
“Happen naturally?” Eli asked incredulously as he scrubbed his hands over his face. “I can’t believe you did this.”
Deanna nodded in agreement as her eyes widened. “I know. It kind of shocked me, too. I’m not really the matchmaker type, but I think this town is rubbing off on me.”
If there was any place that would turn a sane person who minded their own business into a meddling matchmaker, it was Hope Falls.
“But…” She pointed at his chest. “You should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you?”
“Yes. Now Kenzie’s staying with you.”
Theo happened to be walking past his cousin in the hallway, and he stopped. “Kenzie’s staying with you?”
He wanted to tell Theo it was none of his damn business. But he didn’t. From what he’d seen Theo was a stand-up guy. He was obviously in love with Kenzie, and Eli couldn’t blame him for that.
“There was a plumbing issue at the bungalow.”
Theo didn’t respond to that. Instead, he changed the subject entirely. “Hey, you have time for a one-on-one today?”
“A one-on-one?” Eli repeated.
“An interview,” Deanna interjected. “You just sit there and answer questions. It’s no big deal.”
“I know what it is,” he told his cousin before turning his attention back to Theo. “I just didn’t think I was scheduled to do it until next week.”
“I’ve got some time open today.” Theo’s explanation was a challenge.
If this were just Theo asking, he’d have declined, but this was Kenzie’s documentary, too. And he would do anything for her. “Fine.”